Child Rights Clubs

Introduction

Child Rights Clubs (CRCs) are child-led groups established by Child Rights International, whose purpose is to enrich children through participation, and are part of a strategy by CRI to promote child welfare for all.

The establishment and training of Child Rights Clubs is a long-term project for CRI, and has been supported by collaboration with several partners, including UNICEF, Plan Ghana and Mondelez International.

Tertiary clubs are created to provide mentorship programs in various communities. Secondary CRCs adopt under-resourced and impoverished communities in order to help them ensure their rights are being met and to provide support for the creation of more educational opportunities.

Education and Empowerment

Child Rights Clubs (CRCs) are child-led groups established by Child Rights International to empower children, educate them about their rights and responsibilities, build their capacity to be great leaders, and encourage them not just to be members of a community, but vibrant and active agents for change. These clubs exist in both schools and communities, and present an opportunity for children to raise, discuss and address issues that affect them.

Child Participation

Children in Child Rights Clubs are taught to be positive and active members of their communities. In this vein, children have been involved in several projects.

Child-led Research

Child-led research is a fundamental part of the mission of CRCs, as it is an engaging and participatory means of education, and enables Child Rights International to disseminate quality materials that are best-suited to the children who will be using them. There have been several child-led resources published by CRI, including the Child-Friendly Version of the Juvenile Justice Act.

Child-led Activities and Community Service

A central tenet of Child Rights Clubs is to enable children to be active and positive community members. The club at Holy Child School (who can be found on instagram@_childrights_holychild) is a prime example, as they have taken it upon themselves to fundraise for an under-resourced school in Cape Coast, to help children to have access to quality education.

Maame Serwaa Abrokwaa, Form 2, Club President (left)

Comfort Owusu-Ansah, Form 2, Vice President (centre)

Angela Darkey, Form 2, Organizing Secretary (right)

Club President Maame explains the project below:

"We are planning a fundraiser for the vacation. The funds that would be raised would be used to support our adopted community by helping the less privileged there and to support their education.

We adopted the Saint Michael School in Cape Coast. We adopted that community because when we took a further view of the community we realized that that school was lacking lots of amenities. Lots of them cannot also pay their fees, even though there are brilliant people in the school, and if we give them that support they need, they can get somewhere."

- Maame Serwaa Abrokwaa, Club President

Child Rights Clubs, like the one at Holy Child School, have shown innovation and dedication to improving their communities and the communities around them.

Child Protection

Child Rights International provides training for children to be able to identify child protection issues in their communities and how to prevent it. In the past, children have used this training to develop a child-led monitoring tool on child labour.

Together with Mondelez, children in Child Rights Clubs updated and improved this tool to include child protection issues, and guidelines for how to identify, respond to, and report cases of emotional, sexual and physical abuse.

This tool helps children to be aware of child rights and to remain alert for child protection issues in their communities.